Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who calls himself an 'atheist', opened up about the Ram Mandir inauguration event in Ayodhya on January 22. Some of the biggest Bollywood celebrities, sports personalities, politicians as well as businessmen attended the grand event. While speaking at an event in Kolkata recently, Anurag said that the temple inauguration was an 'advertisement' for what's about to come and for all that is happening in India right now.
The filmmaker, known for his candid and straightforward approach when discussing various issues, reportedly said that democracy is just a front for the fascism that has taken over. He also said that those in power are exploiting the frustration of people.
When asked about the Pran Pratishtha ceremony, he said, "What happened on January 22 was an advertisement. That’s how I see it. Like the kind of advertisements that play between the news, this was a 24-hour ad. One of the key reasons why I am an atheist is because I was born in Varanasi. I was born in the city of religion, I’ve seen the business of religion very closely. You call it the Ram Mandir, but it was never a Ram Mandir. It was Ram Lalla’s temple, and the entire country can’t tell the difference."
According to a report in Indian Express, the filmmaker added, "Someone one said, 'Religion is the last resort of the scoundrel'. When you have nothing left to give, you turn towards religion. I’ve always called myself an atheist because I saw growing up, hopeless people would go to temples to ask for salvation like there’s some kind of button that they could push and erase all their problems. What is the reason why there are no movements?"
Anurag went on to say that today our fight is not for freedom but it is against 'fascism posturing as democracy'. He added that information now is manipulated to cater to people's preferences, thereby controlling the narrative.
"We’re wasting our time by starting intellectual arguments. I tell them, ‘You’re right, now let me do my work’. All our energy is going into these meaningless fights, and that’s how they’re keeping us engaged. We think we’re fighting, but we’re doing nothing. We’ve been tricked into their trap,” he stated.
Anurag is known for his films like Gangs of Wasseypur, Manmarziyaan, Dev D, No Smoking, and Raman Raghav 2.0 among others.
